Scratch A Wave

One Fellow, 3 Felines Prove Cats Can Take To Water - Well, Like Dogs.

February 26, 1997|By LUISA YANEZ Miami Bureau

KEY BISCAYNE - — It's a sunny Saturday at Hobie Beach. There are beachgoers galore. But one stands out. Buster, an aristocratic cat on a leash, slinks toward the water. This is no water-fearing feline. He swims. He dives. He even hangs 10.

Make that hangs 20, Buster is a surfing Siamese.

On this day, Buster is wading onto a special cat-contoured white boogie board. As owner Hector Castaner guides it through the water, Buster seems to wonder why everyone is staring.

Not really gnarly surfing. But when the waves are rough, Buster takes some fur-raising rides, Castaner said.

"Buster is a cool cat."Castaner said.

Buster shakes off, then sits under a pine tree, displaying no hint of humiliation in looking like a scroungy wet rat.

According to cat lover Castaner, Buster's behavior is not really that unusual. Any cat can do it. He claims cat owners willing to take the time can train their cats to, well, be more like dogs.

Some dogs love water and jump in fearlessly. Some even surf on full-size boards.

Castaner said his two other felines, Flame and Flashback, who waited on shore for Buster, were water lovers, too.

All three are so well-behaved that they are members of the Delta Society, whose brigade of four-legged members visit the sick and elderly at hospitals and nursing homes in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

"I can teach cats to ride comfortably in a car and actually come when they hear your keys jiggling," declares Castaner, of Miami. "I can also train them to walk on a leash and give their paw. My cats even go to dinner with me on South Beach."

At outdoor cafes, of course. They sit at his feet.

Castaner's avocation is "cat educator."He says his day job, counseling troubled teens for the county, qualifies him to train haughty kitties.

He released a cassette and booklet called Buster's Hollywood Cat Training Program, a guide to other cat owners seeking better control of their cats.

He is saddened by the closeted lives most cats live.

Unlike dogs, cats are seldom seen at art shows, parks or in cars. "Owners think: It's only a cat. Well, a cat can be trained, too."